Colorado Department of Corrections wants $8 million for parole push

Includes about 74 new positions

By Christopher N. Osher

The Denver Post

Posted:
01/06/2014 11:00:10 AM MST

The Colorado Department of Corrections is proposing an $8 million top-to-bottom overhaul of parole operations, which would pour more resources into preparing prisoners for their release from prison and helping them cope with life after release.

The plan would decrease case-loads of case managers who work with prisoners, insert parole officers into every prison in the state, bolster pre-release programs and make it easier for prisoners to get proper government identification before they are released on parole.

It also would overhaul training of parole officers, modeling training after what has been done with the state's probation officers. It would create a new command post to sift through all electronic monitoring data and coordinate officer responses to specific alerts.

Corrections officials declined to discuss the proposals, but The Denver Post determined many of the details by reviewing budget submissions to the legislature.

"It wouldn't be appropriate to answer questions from The Denver Post concerning budget requests before the department speaks to Colorado lawmakers," said Roger Hudson, spokesman for the Colorado Department of Corrections.

Approval needed

Gov. John Hickenlooper previously had asked for a $10 million "place holder" increase in parole funding, a 25 percent increase that would bring total parole spending to $49.4 million. It was unclear late Friday whether the department would seek that total amount or settle on the $8 million specified in the budget documents reviewed by The Post.

Advertisement

The powerful Joint Budget Committee, which sets funding priorities that the full legislature later votes on, is scheduled to discuss the proposals Monday with corrections officials. Before the proposals become a reality, they must be approved by the legislature.

State Rep. Crisanta Duran, a Democrat from Denver who is chairwoman of the JBC, said she couldn't comment extensively.

"Obviously, we need a corrections system that will safeguard the public's trust, and that will be the goal for me, but I will have to go through the details first," Duran said.

House Minority Leader Mark Waller, a Republican from Colorado Springs, said he was dubious of the sizable budget request.

"You know, throwing money at it just to throw money at it is not going to accomplish a darn thing," Waller said. "There are a lot of issues related to the Department of Corrections. There always have been. It's one of those areas where government has allowed the department to grow unchecked."

The plan also would hire specialists who would help parolees find jobs and job training, hire more social workers to deal with mental health problems, increase funding for cognitive therapies and provide an additional $780,000 annually for emergency assistance for parolees with severe needs.

The plan includes a major push at ensuring that prisoners receive proper IDs, which would help them navigate life when they're finally released from prison and make it easier for them to obtain the basics, such as a bank account.

The changes envisioned include plans for a new Department of Motor Vehicles office at the Denver Reception and Diagnostic Center, which is the first stop for all offenders sentenced to prison in Colorado. Offenders processed there who don't have government IDs will be reviewed and screened by the new DMV office.

Another Department of Motor Vehicles office will be placed in a Cañon City prison, which will finalize credentialing requirements for prisoners who need them.

The budget documents state that Colorado wants to mirror work done in Montana, where parole officers for more than 15 years have worked in prisons to help transition prisoners before they are released on parole. Parole officers assigned to prisons in Montana coordinate to ensure a seamless handoff to the parole officer that ends up monitoring a parolee outside the prison, the documents state.

74 new hires

In all, the proposed changes would require the hiring of about 74 new parole officers or other correctional officials in the upcoming fiscal year set to begin this June.

The parole system came under criticism after authorities revealed it had taken Ebel's parole officer six days to obtain an arrest warrant for Ebel after an alert went out that Ebel had removed his bracelet.

The reform push also follows investigative reports by The Denver Post that found that Colorado parolees have committed new crimes, used drugs and disappeared for months without getting sent back to prison. The newspaper uncovered 29 murder cases since 2002 in which parolees violated conditions of their release or committed a crime and were allowed to remain free.

The Post also found that more than 100 prisoners were released straight from solitary confinement to parole in the past year, and that the number of offenders placed on intensive supervision declined 35 percent in the past three years.

In addition, The Post found that audits of parole officer work revealed that parole officers committed fundamental supervision errors in more than 60 percent of the cases they handled. More than 2,000 audits were conducted in the past three years. The Post reviewed the audits for trends and patterns, something the Department of Corrections had not done.

RE-1 Valley School District has announced its policy for determining eligibility of children who may receive free and reduced price meals served under the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Program.
Full Story